Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF) 



Lynda Johnson Robb, Chairman 

 Ruth Graves, President 



Over the last 30 years, Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. has 

 grown from a small pilot program in the District of Columbia 

 into a nationwide children's literacy network that spans all 50 

 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. offshore ter- 

 ritories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. 



As RIF marked its 30th anniversary, more children par- 

 ticipated in the Reading Is Fundamental program than ever 

 before — more than 3.8 million. Throughout the year RIF's 

 volunteer network of more than 202,000 local citizens put 

 books into the hands of these children, surrounded them 

 with reading activities, showed parents how to encourage 

 reading in the home, and built support for literacy in the 

 community. 



The RIF program reaches out to young people in all kinds 

 of settings — schools, libraries, Head Start and Even Stan 

 programs, migrant worker camps, housing developments, 

 Boys and Girls Clubs, schools for children with disabilities, 

 and juvenile detention centers. In hospitals and clinics, 

 pediatricians are making RIF books and reading activities a 

 part of every child's visit to the doctor. And thoughout the 

 country and offshore territories, RIF is serving large numbers 

 of Native American youngsters, including Apache, Blackfeet, 

 Hopi, Navajo, Yaqui, Chippewa, Choctaw, Cherokee, and 

 Sioux, and Pacific Island children in Guam and Hawaii. 



The soundness of the RIF approach to promoting children's 

 literacy has been backed by numerous studies. RIF has also 

 received an A plus rating from the American Institute of 

 Philanthropy, has been ranked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy 

 as one of the nation's 20 "most credible charities," and has 

 been cited by 'Parenting magazine as one of 15 charities "chat 

 really help kids." 



Highlights of the Year 



The year began with a four-day Book and Author RIF 

 Benefit, organized by Scholastic, Inc. to mark RIF's 30th an- 

 niversary. The list of authors reads like a "who's who" of 

 children's authors and illustrators: Newbery Medalist Jean 

 Craighead George, Judy Blume, R.L. Stine, Jon Scieszka, and 

 Virginia Hamilton, who has won virtually every children's 

 book award, including the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. 

 Throughout the benefit, children also had the chance to ex- 

 plore a real Magic School Bus and to meet its creators — 

 author Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen. 



Great Britairrs National Literacy Trust launched a three- 

 year experimental RIF program in the United Kingdom to 

 promote children's literacy. Arrangements have been made for 

 the Trust to adapt RIF technical assistance materials to a 



British audience. The Literacy Trust was established in 1993 

 to encourage more reading and writing for pleasure and to en- 

 hance literacy standards in the United Kingdom. 



The year 1996 saw the retirement of RIF's distinguished 

 chairman, Anne Richardson, who has devoted her efforts to 

 serving children through half of RIF's history. Under her 

 leadership, RIF's program for children was greatly expanded 

 and the number of volunteers doubled to 202,000. Lynda 

 Johnson Robb, a charter member of RIF's Board, was unani- 

 mously elected as RIF's new chairman by the all-volunteer 

 Board of Directors. She has probably read to more young 

 people and visited more projects than any other person as- 

 sociated with RIF. 



The National Basketball Association produced a series of 

 Public Service Announcements for RIF featuring superstars 

 Shaquille O'Neal, Juwan Howard, and Danny Manning. The 

 PSAs reached more than 305 million viewers during the 1995- 

 96 season. 



The series debuted during the NBA playoffs last year with 

 Orlando Magic center Shaquille O'Neal challenging kids to 

 find new adventures in books. Washington Bullets forward 

 Juwan Howard followed up his PSA with an appearance on 

 the Oprah Winfrey show, during which he talked about how 

 his participation in a RIF project in Chicago had turned him 

 into an avid reader. And Phoenix Suns Forward Danny Man- 

 ning talked about the joys of making reading a family affair 

 while reading to his young son and daughter against the back- 

 drop of his own living room. 



In April, the I2th Annual Reading Is Fun Week celebra- 

 tion was held throughout the country. In Washington, D.C., 

 youngsters from metropolitan area RIF projects filled the 

 west pavilion of the Library of Congress to witness the Nation- 

 al Awards Ceremony honoring the winners of the RIF Poster 

 Contest and National Reading Celebration, two reading incen- 

 tive programs underwritten by the Metropolitan Life Founda- 

 tion. Joining RIF in celebrating RIF's 30th anniversary were 

 U.S. Representatives John Dingell of Michigan and Sam 

 Farr of California, celebrated children's author Patricia 

 Polacco, and Education Secretary Richard W. Riley, who 

 urged the children to keep on reading and thanked RIF for 

 "30 years of invaluable contributions to the children of this 

 country." 



Parents are learning how to select books and organize read- 

 ing activities for their children through RIF's Family of 

 Readers , which reaches parents in adult literacy programs, 

 GED programs, Title I programs, community colleges. Head 

 Start and Even Start centers, and correctional centers. Last 

 year, RIF teamed up with Literacy Volunteers of America to 

 co-produce a new videotape, "Becoming a Family of Readers," 

 that presents interviews with a range of families across 

 America who model book sharing and advocate reading as an 

 activity that benefits everyone in the family. 



The U.S. Department of Education once again invited sum- 

 mer RIF projects to participate in the American Partnership for 

 Reading and Writing initiative— READ*WRITE*NOW! 



IOI 



